Cliché
by Rawr-For-You
Summary: They're like the tired cliché in some horrible romance novel, and he can't bring himself to care. -Yuffintine-


**Cliché**

_Honey you are a rock  
__Upon which I stand.  
__And I come here to talk,  
__I hope you understand._

Girls always flock to half-way decent looking men.

It's a simple state of nature that Vincent is overall used to. He can practically taste the hormones as 16 year old females clamor around his desk, their catholic school skirts reaching to the middle of their thighs when they should be reaching just an inch above the knee, their polo's unbuttoned to show just the rarest traces of cleavage, a taste of young, perky breasts.

Two months school has been in session, and for two months this has been going on. He sighs as he sifts through papers. He looks to his watch to see he has to deal with the obnoxious clamoring for roughly another two minutes. He runs his fingers through short black hair and thinks fleetingly of the long black locks he used to have, the ones he had to cut off in order to become a history teacher at the prestigious private school. He hears a _clack, scrape, clack, _against the board behind him and he turns his eyes to it briefly.

Behind him is perhaps the only sane girl in the room or, he supposes, the only abnormal girl in the room, for it seems she has not a hormonal bone in her body like teenagers should. Vincent has never seen her flirt with a single male, never seen her eyes glaze over with lust, and she doesn't dress to make others lust over her either. Her skirt reaches above the knee by a few inches, her polo is buttoned as it should be, and her hair is short and black. She's short in height as well; five feet, one inch. She smiles a lot and doesn't wear a trace of make up on her face, giving her a youthful natural look. Vincent's sure that if she wore makeup her grey eyes would be even more brighter, Vincent is a strong believer in make up, in unnatural beauty for he has been raised to like that sort of thing.

Vincent knows she's odd, not only does her undutiful anti-hormonal happenings prove it, but she always wears the oddest accessories. Sometimes she wears large ribbons in her hair with feathers, sometimes she wears boots that reach to her knee that are large and fuzzy, sometimes she wears bangles all up her forearm, practically covering it. She's an odd girl, though Vincent likes her as a student and as an individual. She's odd, but he respects that kind of thing.

"Ms. Kisuragi," he states and her back goes ridged, the chalk still in her hand. She turns to look at him, sort of a deer in head-lights sort of gaze and Vincent wonders how she could have possibly thought that he wouldn't notice her, what with her right behind him and all.

"Yes, Mr. Valentine?" she replies, her voice soft.

"What are you doing to my board?" he questions, he sees written in bold white chalk, the words "_Fuck off, Reno"_ on the blackboard. He looks from the board to the perpetrator before looking back at the board again. The bell rings, she scurries to her seat, he erases the message and class begins. It isn't until the bell rings to dismiss class that Vincent finally can address the chalk-board incident. "Stay behind, Ms. Kisuragi." he orders and she looks at him with a frown.

"Bye, Yuffie." says one of her many male friends and she waves at him before standing in front of Vincent's desk.

"Yes, Mr. Valentine?" she asks, though her eyes flicker out the door several times.

"I was going to enquire why you wrote such foul language on my chalk board, Ms. Kisuragi." She shifts her weight from her left foot to her right foot, she bites her bottom lip on the right side, and her eyes flicker downcast to her feet. She taps her fingers anxiously against her leg a total of ten times before her hands ball up into fists. Finally she looks to Vincent, eyes set with determination.

"I did it because Reno's a dick." it's a very blunt statement, and she says it without a hint of hesitation. Vincent feels his eyes widen slightly in surprise. He gathers himself quickly and leans on the desk, his fingers are laced together and his elbows are on the desk like a major executive of a major company would do.

"Though I do not know why you are calling him such terms, what I wish to know is why you wrote such things on _my_ board." She once more looks down before looking up.

"Because… because I can't say it to his face." Vincent raises a brow.

"Then why not write such things on a note?" why he's questioning her and giving her advice rather than just giving her a detention, Vincent doesn't know. Perhaps it's simply because he likes this odd student more than the others and he doesn't want her to start disliking his class and start skipping it.

"He'd throw it away before reading it, he can't do that to a chalk board." Yuffie replies, and her answer seems well thought out.

"Do you have a problem with this student?"

"Lots," she replies and then shrugs, "though you can't really help with it. He's just a kid starting rumors, you know? Same old high school shit." she tells him and flicks her hand dismissively. Vincent should give her a detention for saying the word shit, though he doesn't, and he can't think of a single reason why.

"Do not do it again, Ms. Kisuragi, or I will have to give you a detention, or have the principal talk to you and your father."

"My father and Reeve are good friends." Yuffie informs with a weak smile and Vincent feels surprised at her calling the principal his first name, "I'd only get a slap on the wrist." Vincent stares at her and she back-peddles, "Though sure thing, Mr. Valentine, I won't do it again." Yuffie replies, and again, Vincent feels as if he's being dismissed. She looks to her back pack and then back at Vincent, "and you can call me "Yuffie", I don't like being called Ms. Kisuragi, none of my other teachers do it." Vincent nods though he wants to tell her he won't be calling her Yuffie.

"Get to your next class," he tells her before looking back down at his papers. He waits for her to leave as he shuffles them, as he begins marking things here, and putting checks there, though he can feel her presence lingering. He looks up at her and sees she looks nervous, "Anything else, Yuffie?"

"Can I…" she looks out the window, then at the door, then at her feet, "it's lunch for me, can I eat in here?" and Vincent realizes it's his lunch hour, too, and so he places down his pen and folds his hands on the table.

"Wouldn't you prefer eating with your friends?" he asks, "I am a horrible eating companion, I must say."

"It has to do with the whole Reno thing." she replies, "Rumors, y'know?" and Vincent sighs and runs his hands through his now-short hair and finally he nods.

"You may eat in here, if you wish." and so, Yuffie pulls up a chair and pulls out her lunch.

00

"Do you have a wife, Mr. Valentine?" Yuffie asks during one lunch time. She's been eating there for a month and a half now, and soon Shinra private school will be out for a week for Christmas vacation. Vincent doesn't know if the drama is still going on, he doesn't ask, but she seems cheerful and she eats lunch in his class and, really, he does enjoy her company.

"Fiancé," he tells her and she nods as she takes a bite from her sandwich.

"Is she a teacher too?" she asks, her food still in her mouth in a really immature way, but it suits her.

"No, she's a scientist." Vincent replies and Yuffie whistles.

"That's pretty intense, how'd you meet?" she questions.

"Through a mutual friend." he replies. He looks down at a stack of papers now graded and taps his closed pen against the table a few times. He considers a few things before he puts the pen down.

"Why do you ask?" he questions finally as he looks back at the munching, 16 year old girl. She swallows her food and goes to take another bite but stops and places the sandwich back down.

"Well, you don't have any pictures up like most teachers do, you don't wear a ring, and you seem like the kind of guy who'd be awkward in relationships, but then again, you're probably 25--"

"27," he corrects, though he knows there's no reason for it.

"Yeah, that," she gathers herself, "so you aren't old but your at that age where guys get married for the hell of it, you know?" and he props his head on his open palm and stares at her for a few moments. Getting married for the hell of it. He thinks briefly of his fiancé and wonders if he's getting married to her for the hell of it, though then he thinks of how happy she makes him and he decides that he most certainly is not.

"I am marrying her because I wish to," he replies, "not on a silly whim." Yuffie holds her hands up.

"Maybe not you, but is she?" and before Vincent can answer, before he can get really mad and correct her, the bell rings and Yuffie gathers her things and students enter and she leaves the room.

00

"Yuffie Kisuragi?" asks Cid as he takes a drag of his cigarette, he's not supposed to smoke indoors or even on the property of Shinra High School, but he does it because he feels like it. School is back in session after the quick winter break and it's cold outside and Vincent doesn't like it too much. Cid takes another hit off the cigarette before ashing it out. "Why d'ya ask 'bout a brat like that?"

"Parent-teacher conferences," Vincent replies as he stirs his coffee. He hears Tifa on the phone, talking to her fiancé and compares her life to his. He is very good friends with most of the faculty at Shinra High, you have to be after seeing someone every day for many months. He knows Cloud - her soon-to-be husband - is a bit younger than he and he thinks of how the two act around each other, he doesn't believe they're getting married for the hell of it. He looks back at Cid who is waiting for his reply.

"Her father was the only parent not there." Cid nods his head, "Usually at least one of the parents show up, or they have someone go for them." It's just that kind of elitist private school.

"She's the best kid in my gym classes but she sure as hell can act like a fuckin' brat." Cid says as he fiddles with his pack of cigarette's, "Though she probably has it worst out of all those fuckin' kids - which is a fuckin' ridiculous thing to say since all them kids have money commin' out the ass." Vincent decides not to say anything to Cid's crude language. Cid finally pulls out a cigarette and flicks his lighter a few times, just to watch the sparks fly, "Her fathers a billionaire, not a millionaire like most these rich, pretentious asses," he puts the cigarette to his lips, "owns the Wutai electrical applications company, makes loads of money, y'know? He's there 24/7 and in those rare times he ain't there, tabloids say he's fuckin' some new woman."

Vincent stays silent and soon Tifa is sitting down next to them, she stretches out her back against the chair before relaxing. "Yuffie, you mean?" she asks looking between the two men, "She's a sweet-heart in my opinion, a little bit over-the-top, but she means well, poor kid." she sighs as she looks at her cell phone, probably thinking of Cloud. "She's not snotty like the rest of them, not so plastic." she tucks the phone back in her purse and the room goes quiet for a few moments.

"How's Cloud?" Cid asks just for conversation starter, and he finally lights the cigarette.

"Oh, oh, good, very good," she nods her head and goes into her briefcase chalk-full of literature books and essays, she sifts through it and pulls out two sealed envelops, she hands one to each man, "I was going to mail them to you, but since you're here, might as well just give them myself." a pause, "It's for the wedding since Cloud and I are getting married next month." Vincent tucks it into his suitcase and promises he'll go, and when Tifa asks if he'll be bringing Lucrecia, he has to admit he doesn't know.

00

Lucrecia ends up going with Vincent, though the whole thing is stiff. He starts to feel paranoia, in fact, he's been feeling paranoia over their relationship for a few months, even before Yuffie said that stupid kid thing about marrying and how it's just for the hell of it and what-not. Lucrecia sits next to him in the pews of the church, though they don't hold hands. She talks to people, but never to him. At the reception, she shares a dance with him, but that's the extent.

"Are you alright?" he questions, his eyes looking directly into her brown ones. He watches her visibly shutter before looking to the table. She's always had a problem with his eyes, always found them odd with their red coloring, something close to blood, she always tells him, but not quite. She had a problem with his long hair too, but that's all gone now, and she seems happy with that. She tells him she likes his eyes, though she wishes they weren't so odd. "Lucrecia?" he says again, and it seems to arouse her from he mysterious musings of the table. She looks to him, but only briefly.

"I'm… I'm fine." she says but she doesn't look fine.

"Are you… sure?" he questions, because with Lucrecia, you have to ask more than once in order for her to take your question seriously.

"I'm so sorry," she murmurs and shakes her head, "can we just talk about it later, Vincent?" and he looks to the table, the table with its pretty robin egg colored doilies against the silk white table cloths and he thinks briefly at how nice the wedding is, if only to take his mind off of what is happening in his life currently.

"Of course," he finally says before Tifa, the beautiful bride with the long dress and the prettiest smile he's ever seen, comes over and gives him a big hug, and then demands he dances with her, which he does, and Cid gives a laugh and everything seems so lovely on the outside now when Vincent knows it is anything but.

It is not until he and Lucrecia reach his expensive, wonderful apartment - because that's just the kind of place you have when you work at a private school that millionaires send their kids to - at two in the morning that he finally asks her what the matter is, and she begins to cry, "I'm so sorry, Vincent." she sobs, and Vincent feels awkward because he doesn't know what to do, "Hojo--" and Vincent feels his insides freeze. Hojo, her employer, Hojo, the old scientist who she works with every day and sometimes at night. What had he done? Had he harmed her? Done something heinous? But before Vincent can go off the deep end, Lucrecia continues, "I, he, we," she sobs and Vincent just stands there, hands at his side because he just doesn't know what to do in this sort of situation. "I'm pregnant," she says and she shakes her head, "he's the father." she turns from him and leaves, "I'm so sorry." he can hear her say, though he doesn't move, just keeps his hands at his sides.

00

"Lucrecia," Vincent begins, cell phone to his ear as he looks out the window of his room, he fixes and unfixes and fixes his tie before he makes the hand messing with said tie stay at his side, "look, I know… just… call me, please." and he hangs up because really, what's the point? It's been a month since she left and it's February, it's Valentines Day and he hasn't heard a single word from her since the wedding, and really, he's said all he's needed to say in the last 15 messages he left her in the past week. People give their condolences to him and Tifa hugs him, and Cid takes him to the bars since, but Vincent simply can't bring himself to care about women at the moment.

"Still not answering your calls?" asks Yuffie because it's lunch time and because, really, he's gotten so used to the girls presence that he can't bring himself to care if she hears all about his love-life. She's a sweet girl and she's loud and abrasive and she means well completely and, really, he wants her to know what's happening because it's just what he's comfortable with.

"No," Vincent finally says before he slips the phone into his pocket and turns from the window and looks where's she's sitting. She's on top of the desk. His desk, not a desk, Not a small four by two. He wonders briefly why this is but realizes that he doesn't care, and he doesn't pretend to because he remembers that she's been doing this for a few weeks now. She's eating Chinese food today, something different but it doesn't look like the kind of cheap take-out he'd get if he were with friends, it's something like from a fine dining restaurant. It's just the sort of thing he'd expect a rich girl to eat, though she doesn't act like it's anything big or cool so he doesn't bring it up.

_She's a sweet-heart_, he recalls Tifa saying once, _she means well._ and Vincent supposes that this is accurate.

"What are you going to do?" Yuffie questions and he shrugs.

"Wait and see," he replies, "if she calls me back, I suppose we can work something out, if she doesn't, then I will have to move on."

"If she calls you back, then what are you going to do? Just take her back even though she's pregnant with another mans kid?" Vincent looks and smiles sort of a sad smile.

"You are still a kid, I wouldn't expect you to understand." Yuffie stands from his desk and walks to him.

"I'm a kid, yeah, but even I know that sometimes there comes a point where you have to let love go." and Vincent wants to tell her that she's a kid, though he has to admit, what she said is a very adult thing to say. She smiles the same sad smile he had on, "I'm sorry it happened, Mr. Valentine, she was stupid, I think." and Vincent thinks it's nice of Yuffie to say, though he doesn't say much about it. The bell rings and he expects her to go right away, but she doesn't. Yuffie throws away the Chinese food, goes to her back pack, opens it, and searches for a few moments.

Kids start drifting into class slowly, and Yuffie goes to Vincent, a package nicely wrapped now in her hands. She hands it to him and smiles brightly, her grey eyes shining and Vincent thinks it's okay that she doesn't wear make up. That maybe it suits her better, though he doesn't say it and he wonders why he'd even think such a thing. "Happy Valentines day, Mr. Valentine." and she smirks, "You were kind of made for this day, weren't'cha?" and he takes it with questioning hands and she pats him lightly on his upper arm because she could hardly reach to his shoulder without making it awkward, what with her height and all. Then she leaves and he's left staring at it until the bell rings, signaling class started, and he puts the gift in his desk, though he thinks about it all day.

It isn't until the end of the school day, when Vincent returns to his expensive apartment, that he finally opens the gift in its pretty wrapping paper and nice looking bow. There is a picture frame but before he can look at what is in the frame, there is a note taped to the glass. _So you finally have _something_ to put on your lonely desk_. And he raises an eyebrow at the statement but can't help but find it a little bit funny. He takes off the note and inside the frame makes his heart do a strange little _pit-pat-tap-tap_.

It is, as he expected, Yuffie, she's wearing a black tube top with green buckles on either side of it and a familiar green head band with red feathers poking out of it. Her earrings are large and have dream weavers as the design, they seem heavier than her head. Her grey eyes are shining in a truly brilliant way and her pearly whites gleam. He can see the shape of her toned stomach, her skin looks somewhat bronzed and she's wearing - good lord - bright green shorts that reach an inch above mid thigh so it hardly even covers her bum. Her shoes are black sandals, but the lace to tie the backs of them lace all the way up to the middle of her calves, she's holding a volleyball and she seems ready to pass it to someone. Vincent can see a pool in the background, a nice pool with waterfalls and stucco siding and it looks huge.

Vincent knows the picture is meant to be innocent, simply a picture a friend would give to another friend, though Yuffie is not a friend, she is a student, a 16 year old girl, and Vincent should not have a picture like this. He's glad now that he didn't open it up at school, give the chance for someone else to see it and misinterpret its meaning, though he doesn't know what to do it. Logic tells him to throw it away, to burn it, though something inside of him whispers to keep it.

In the end, Vincent ends up jacking off to it because somehow the shape of her legs and her thighs and the bare stomach with the nice neck and pretty shoulders made his mind drift and made him wonder - if only briefly - how it'd feel to have those legs wrapped around his thighs, or to have that toned stomach pressed against his chest as he would dive in and out of her.

He feels ashamed, of course. He feels mortified because Vincent doesn't approve of people fucking kids, because Yuffie, as much as he wishes now wasn't the case - is still a 16 year old, and he a 27 year old man who just had a two year engagement get broken off.

In the end, the picture is placed on his nightstand because he can't have it at school, and can't get rid of it.

00

A few weeks go by until it's March and it's sort of getting warm, but not as warm as Vincent wishes it would be because traces of snow still linger on the ground, and the frigid air from the great lake hits him when he walks from the taxi to the schools inner warmth. "Can't wait for spring." Yuffie informs one day as she sits on top of Vincent's desk, legs crossed and Vincent thinks briefly of opening the legs and seeing what lies under the kilted skirt that she wears at a modest length. It's dangerous, these thoughts, and he considers telling her to not eat in his class anymore, though he doesn't, because in all honesty, he'd miss her too much.

"You never ended up telling me what you thought of my gift." Yuffie brings up and smiles, and Vincent feels his chest freeze because, honestly, he was hoping to avoid this. Though he sighs because he knows he can't.

"It is at my apartment." he informs and she smiles brighter and seems honestly happy with this.

"What's your apartment like?" she asks him and she leans forward on his desk a little bit, towards him, exposing the neck line and her collar bone pokes out slightly, and Vincent swallows.

"Would you like to see it?" he asks, and it was meant to come off more joke like but he doesn't get the right inflection and now, he knows, he sounds like an utter creep and he waits for Yuffie to freeze up and leave, but instead she merely smiles.

"After school, okay?" she asks him and she uncrosses her legs before re-crossing them, and Vincent feels like taking it back and saying it was a joke, but she looks so happy, he can't bring himself to say the words, to say, very simply, "just kidding" so instead he smiles and nods his head and the lunch bell rings and Yuffie leaves until the end of the day when she comes back to his class room and he packs up his things and the two leave together. No one notices that Yuffie gets in his car instead of taking the car where her driver is, because teachers have to stay late and only Vincent is neglecting his work to hang out with a 16 year old girl.

_A fuckin' brat_, as Cid calls it, and when they get to his apartment and no one sees him enter with the 16 year old girl, Vincent thinks there has to be some kind of catch because this kind of thing is going a bit too well. He's waiting for a car to explode, or something like it.

Though it doesn't and Yuffie enters his living room and looks around and suddenly Vincent feels nervous because he is remembers Yuffie's father is a billionaire and their home is most defiantly a home and not an apartment with just a few rooms looking over a really nice view of Chicago.

"I really like this," she says, and Vincent thinks she's being polite, that she's humoring him, though when he looks over at her, he's amazed to see she looks incredibly sincere.

"You don't need to use fake flattery with me, Yuffie."

"I have my own apartment, a pent house, but its lonely, you know? It's too big, I wish that, if I had my own place, it'd be something more like this without a maid or anything like that." Yuffie sighs and Vincent feels awkward, though it's a bit different than the awkward he's used to because he genuinely wants to comfort her but doesn't know what to say to remedy the situation. A 16 year old girl living in an apartment by herself without a mother or father to keep her company. How used to this is she, he wonders.

"By the way, Mr. Valentine," Yuffie finally turns to him, and Vincent looks back, "what's your name?" and Vincent is surprised as he realizes he's never told her despite how close they are. Then he thinks that's stupid because, really, she shouldn't know because she's just a 16 year old girl - his student. "I mean, I guess I could find out from Reeve or whatever, but, I wanted to learn from you, so it actually matters that I know cuz that means you trusted me enough to give it to me." and she turns away from him, and Vincent swears he caught her blushing and a lump once again catches in his throat.

To tell or not to tell? It's a dangerous decision that he's not too sure he's comfortable making, though in the end he clears his throat of that abominable lump and says, almost as if he's trying to be as quiet as he can about it, "Vincent," and Yuffie turns to him as if she hardly had any hope at hearing him, so he says again, "my fist name is Vincent."

"Vincent," Yuffie replies, and she's smiling, "can I call you that outside of school?" and he considers it before he finally nods his head. He can't actually say the word yes, because it seems his tongue and mouth are fighting and can't come to an agreement and work together to say the single syllable word.

The room goes quiet for a few moments before Yuffie walks up to him, brushes his hair away from his face - startling the ever loving shit out of him, of course - and she says, her mouth very close to his, "Is it okay if I'm completely honest with you, Vincent?" and it feels weird that she's saying his name, though he doesn't hate it, not even close. He nods and she moves a little closer so that their lips are a breath away, "I love you." and Vincent just stares at her and she smiles and pulls away, the smile looks nervous and calculated, like her lips don't know what to do with themselves.

"It's weird, right? A student liking a teacher like something out of some stupid romance novel, but it's true, I really love you." and she turns from him and walks to the window overlooking Chicago close to the Navy Pier. Vincent goes up behind her and is silent for a few moments, he's calculating everything, calculating to figure out what his next move is. His mind is telling him to kick her out, send her packing because there's no way she knows what love is, and there is no way he can engage in this kind of action with a high school student that, now that he thinks about it, he let get a little too close.

Though there's another part of Vincent, a much more sinister part that's screaming, that's letting its voice go sore that's telling him to kiss her, to take her to his room, to find out what it really would feel like to have those legs wrapped around him and to make her scream his name. It probably sounds nice, wonderful even, and he's torn. Finally, he puts an arm on her shoulder and says, "Let's take you home."

00

Yuffie stops staying for lunch, in fact, she doesn't even go to his class anymore, not for a week. He expected this much, after all, no normal person would actually put themselves through pain after getting subtly rejected. Though he misses her, misses her a lot, actually. He goes home every night and drinks a beer even though he hates beer, and he looks at the picture she's left for him, the one of her in the tube top where she's smiling.

He goes to the bars with Cid even though he doesn't hit on the women because he supposes he's still not over Lucrecia and he still thinks of Yuffie and that maybe he shouldn't have been such a nice, responsible guy. He doesn't know, and he doesn't pretend to know.

It isn't until two weeks later that Yuffie returns to him, a lunch bag in her hand and a bashful smile as greeting. "You missed my class." he tells her as he grades papers. She comes over and sits on his desk and she pulls out the contents: two sandwiches and a flask, what it's filled with, he doesn't know.

"I know," she says and she slides him a sandwich, school is over and he's grading tests and he should continue grading tests, but he doesn't, he merely puts the pen down and he rubs his temples and he takes the offered expensive looking sandwich and unwraps it from its cellophane confines before he takes a bite.

The two eat in silence for a few moments before Yuffie opens the flask and takes a drink, "What is in that?" Vincent finally asks, pointing at the metallic flask. Yuffie looks to it as if it hasn't been in her hands this entire time. She sniffs the insides of it as if she doesn't already know, and then she hands it to him. He takes it.

"Screwdriver." Yuffie informs.

Vincent looks and sees the orange of the orange juice, and smells the vodka. He screws up the top and puts it down. "You shouldn't drink at school." he tells her, his face, he knows, shows disappointment, "How did you even get such a thing?"

Yuffie takes the flask back, unscrews it, and drinks from it. Vincent should give her a detention, he should tell Reeve, but he doesn't because he doesn't want her to hate him or start skipping class again. "My dad, he has so much he doesn't realize when it's gone." and this makes sense and Vincent feels bad for her again. "He keeps it stocked at my apartment because he goes to visit sometimes or he brings women there for me to meet and for him to fuck because he doesn't think I was going to be there." she looks to her lap and fixes her pleated skirt, "Good cover for tabloids though, right? Visiting his daughter to show him his potential partner when really he's hoping I'm not there and then he can fuck a woman without making it look unclassy.

"It's stupid as fuck though, you know?" she pauses and takes another swig and Vincent thinks of taking it away from her, but he doesn't have the heart to. "Did I tell you I'm not allowed to take over the company? Not that I want to, but he could never have a boy cuz my mom died when I was real young and he doesn't trust me with the company." a bite of the sandwich, this particular bite menacing. "I don't even want to take over his shitty company, it just fucking sucks that he can't trust it to me in the first place." and the sandwich is finished and Vincent hardly even touched his. He was too wrapped up in her words, it seems.

"Did something happen between you and your father?" Vincent asks attentively, and Yuffie snorts.

"Not like you fucking care." she shakes her head, "Aren't you, y'know, mad? At me? Aren't you upset? Aren't you concerned or some shit?" she looks to her hands, "I thought we were friends and, yeah, I know telling you how I feel wasn't smart and that I shouldn't get mad at you about that, but you never even checked to see how I was, I wanted you to at least show you cared for me as a friend." and she covers her face with her hands and Vincent isn't sure if she's crying or not.

He gets up from his chair and walks around the desk to her side, he takes her hands in his and lowers them, she's not crying, but she looks close to it, she looks away and Vincent kisses her forehead, she looks up, surprised, and he kisses her on the mouth.

00

They're like the cliché in some horrible romance novel, and he can't bring himself to care.

She sits in his lap as they watch some horrible sitcom that neither are actually watching, it's simply background noise and something to look at as they enjoy one another's company. It's May now and it's finally warm out and soon, school will be over and Vincent wonders what's going to happen to the two of them. School is the thing that brought them together, it's the thing that's keeping them together, and he thinks that without it, their already shaky relationship will crumble.

It's only been going on for a month, and Vincent can't help but feel it's about to end. "This summer," Yuffie finally speaks up, it's as if she's been reading his mind; maybe she has, "I think I want to go to Six Flags, or go do something really crazy." she places her fingers on either side of his head, embedding them into his hair and he looks to her. "Would you go with me?" and he wants to say no because going anywhere but to his apartment or hers would be much too dangerous because anyone could see them. Maybe this is why their relationship feels so fragile.

"Yes," he says and she kisses him and he accepts it. They haven't had sex yet, Yuffie, being a child still, thinks it's too soon, and Vincent feels that if they did it now, that really would be the end, that and she is still a child, whether he wants to be reminded of that little fact o' life or not.

Soon she's straddling him and she tilts his head back as she roughly yanks on the back of his hair. She sticks her tongue in his mouth and Vincent reflects the fact that the first time they did something like this, she was completely flustered because she had never kissed a man before, let alone plunged her tongue down his throat.

Her limited experience is another thing that worries Vincent, makes him think the relationship is doomed before it's even allowed to begin. First relationships never work, except for in cheesy romance novels, which they are not, they are real and breathing and people tend to get bored with first relationships rather easily, or they get too clingy making the other person run for their life.

Before Vincent knows it, Yuffie's shirt is unbuttoned and slowly sliding off her shoulders. Her skin is lighter than it was in the picture, though her stomach is as toned as he remembers it looking, her shoulders and collar bone are visible in a truly delectable way, and she's wearing no bra and Vincent wonders how he never noticed that before.

Of course, she's not big-chested, in fact, she hardly has a chest at all, her breast fit easily into his palm but they are alright and they work for him. She has a small body, big breast would be odd looking on her and he imagines she'd have a horrible back problem. He can feel her skin heat up everywhere he touches and he thinks about stopping because wasn't he just thinking that if they had sex, their relationship would be completely ruined?

Though he stops thinking about that as he feels her hands sneak past his belt buckle and beneath his underwear and soon enough, he isn't thinking at all.

They don't have sex that night, but they come close to it, and Vincent feels nervous about it, but Yuffie leaves with a smile.

00

"Vincent?" and the single word causes Vincent to nearly swerve off the road. He and Yuffie are finally taking their trip, it's a road trip and it's July and school is starting in a week and it's been six months since he's seen or talked to Lucrecia. Why she decided to call him, he doesn't know. Why he answered without checking his caller ID, he regrets because Yuffie is looking at him in confusion from her seated position in the car and she looks suddenly so small, and, really, this will ruin their trip together, a trip they need because they've only been together for four months and it's been shaky and he likes this innocent relationship where they don't have sex but come close to it.

"Why…" Vincent begins and he sees a rest stop up ahead and he pulls into it. As he's pulling into a parking spot, he continues, "why are you calling me?"

"Oh," says Lucrecia, and Yuffie's looking at him, trying to gain his attention and ask _who is that?_ because this is what she's mouthing at him time and time again and Vincent looks to her and he holds up his hand and she shrinks back into her seat. She runs her hands through her hair and she gets out of the rental car and slams the door shut and Vincent watches her enter the building, she's stretching here and there and he watches her slim body move and he normal would feel heated but right now he only feels pain in his stomach because he's talking to the woman who left him.

"Lucrecia?" Vincent asks to gain the woman's attention back.

"I… I see you called me." she replies, "You called me a lot."

"Five months ago." Vincent replies and his voice is tougher than he means it to sound because he guesses he still loves her.

"Yes, I… I'm sorry." he hears her say and he feels himself boil in anger but he chokes it back.

"What do you need from me, Lucrecia?" he asks and he rubs his temples and he swears he can hear her crying on the other end.

"Oh, Vincent!" and he waits for her to stop blubbering, "I… I… I never meant to… I love you still and I… I just, I feel so bad about what I did." Vincent looks out the window to see Yuffie exiting the rest area.

"How far along are you?"

"Seven months." she answers, and the tears aren't as stuck in her throat.

"Why, Lucrecia, what do you want me to do?" and Yuffie pulls open the door to the rental car and she sticks her head in and gives him a _What is happening?_ face. Vincent shoos her away again and she frowns and leaves the door open but starts stretching out her legs against the cars frame.

"Nothing, I just… I just wanted you to know that I'm… I'm…" and before she clicks off the phone, he hears it, her distinct murmur of "so sorry," and Vincent pulls the phone away from his ear and stares hard for a few moments as her name flashes on the screen to signal that she has hung up and Yuffie gets in the car and she buckles up and he has his hands held limp on the wheel and without even asking what the matter is, she pulls his head in her direction and she kisses him, a kiss that, he knows, is filled with worry. Little tendrils of doubt.

"I love you," he hears and feels her murmur against his lips because he isn't reacting like he normally would. That night when they get to the hotel after a silent ride, they have sex because Vincent asks and he's pretty sure Yuffie can't have the heart to turn him down, and he doesn't feel bad about that like he thinks he normally would. It's good for him, though she mewls in discomfort because it's her first time and he expected it but he hadn't warned her, the second time they do it, that night, it's not as bad for her and she even sighs in pleasure a few times, though then the two are tired and their trip is a long thing filled with amusement parks and tourist attractions.

Vincent is detached for the rest of the trip though, except when the two make love, perhaps it's because he's so affectionate during this time that Yuffie keeps trying to coerce him into the act. It isn't until they return home that Yuffie asks him what she's probably wanted to ask him the whole trip, "That phone call from the first day of our trip a week ago," she murmurs, "that was Lucrecia, wasn't it?"

Vincent says nothing for a while and that's answer enough, but then he finally says it, "Yes."

"She… she wants you back?" Yuffie questions and her voice sounded worried.

"No," Vincent replies and sighs, "She just wanted to patch things up, I believe."

"If she had…" Yuffie continues, and he hears her swallow, nervous, she's so very nervous, "would you have gone to her?"

"No," Vincent says, but he had paused a few moments before hand, hesitation. When he drops Yuffie off at her apartment, she kisses him harshly, more so than he ever felt before and then, yes, he feels it: tears.

When she pulls away, she gives him a hard stare though she's crying a lot, "I think," she hiccups, "I think we shouldn't see each other for a while." and he nods in agreement and she takes her bag and kisses him more harshly than before and when she pulls away she says, in a tearful voice, "I love you." and he nods and she shuts the door and enters the building.

00

School starts, it's September and Vincent hasn't seen Yuffie in a month and a half. He went to the bars with Cid in that time and he hit on women, he had women, and either way he looked at it, he didn't care which way or the other. On the first day of school, however, in September, Yuffie shows up to his class at lunch and she sits on his desk and he stares at her, his mouth open because he wants to say _something_ he just doesn't know what. She looks at him and she leans over and she kisses him and goes back to eating her food and Vincent looks at his hands before he looks back up.

"How've you been, Vinny?" and he stares without stop. She puts down her sandwich and stands, she walks to his side and she puts her hands on either side of his face and she kisses his forehead and his cheek and his mouth and his nose before she pulls away, "I've been okay," she tells him, "I missed you a lot, but I think it was good we didn't see each other but if you want, I want us to see each other again, I'm 17 now, you know?" and he nods dumbly, she smiles, "Good, cuz I love you." and she kisses him again.

And Vincent finds himself wrapping his arms around her waist and he pulls her towards him and he fixes his mouth on hers and he murmurs against her lips, "As do I."


End file.
